NARS Larger Than Life Eyeliner

NARS Larger Than Life Eyeliner ($23.00 for 0.02 oz.) is a new (and permanent) long-wearing pencil eyeliner that is available in nine shades (though two have not yet been made available online). They’re touted to have 12-hour wear with no smearing or caking. Each eyeliner twists up and also has a built-in sharpener.

I posted sneak peek swatches a couple of days ago, and I’ve spent the time since then testing different shades out to see how they wear. I had high hopes for this product, especially because the initial wear test (which had only been four hours or so) made it seem promising. First, these are infinitely better than NARS Eyeliner Pencils. When I had these on the back of my hand, I can’t smudge them after they set–really vigorous rubbing will cause them to flake a bit, though.

Santa Monica Blvd. is a pure white a matte finish. This one applied a bit unevenly, and it seemed less opaque than the other shades. It seems similar to MAC Pure White.

Rue Bonaparte is a soft beige with a matte finish. This works well to give eyes a more awake appearance when used on the waterline–the problem is getting it to stay there, though. It seems a touch lighter than MAC NC15/NW20.

Abbey Road is a blue-teal with soft blue shimmer. It seems similar to Urban Decay’s Covet.

Rue Saint-Honore is a royal purple with strong blue pull–it’s described as a deep royal blue but looks more purple than blue on me.

Via Appia is a dark, copper-shimmered brown. It’s not as dark (or as warm) as Urban Decay Corrupt.

Madison Ave. is a medium-dark gray with a matte finish.

Via Veneto is a deep, dark black with a matte finish. It reminded me of Urban Decay’s Perversion and MAC Black Black.

I’m not sure if these are waterline-safe or not–the press release nor the website indicate that they are–but typically, matte shades are usually suitable for the waterline while shimmery/glittery shades may not be. I wore Via Veneto (which is a deep, dark black) on my lower waterline and lash line, and I get about an hour of wear on the waterline before the majority has faded away.

The eyeliner on the lash line lasts much longer, and what I noticed is when I wore foundation, the eyeliner wore better and had no smudging eight hours later. By 12-hours (the claimed wear time), there was very, very faint smudging underneath the lash line, and the eyeliner wasn’t as intense or as thick as it was originally. When I wore no foundation, by the sixth hour, there seemed to be a faint, but noticeable, darkness beneath the line–a subtle smudging. I don’t have oily eyelids, and when it’s not allergy season (and it is not), I don’t have very watery eyes.

The built-in sharpener is best used when you twist-up the pencil a good amount, because you really need to get a good portion of it into the sharpener to get it to work. You do lose some pencil in the process in order to achieve the slanted, pointed tip. It seems a bit less than a traditional pencil eyeliner per sharpening, but I’m not sure it’s significant enough that one would be persuaded solely by that–after all, most pencil eyeliners are 0.04 oz. and this is half the size at 0.02 oz. and you do still waste some when sharpening. It is more than most mechanical eyeliners (which are around 0.01 on average), though.

They’re creamy and deposit mostly even color when applied (except Santa Monica Blvd., which is sheerer overall). They glide across the skin and lash lines with ease, so there is no tugging or pulling. The texture of these–overall–is really nice and easy enough to apply. The wear is good, and of course, when it comes to eyeliner, wear is the defining factor.

91 Comments

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I’m meh on the eyeliners because if Milani can make an amazing eyeliner, then Nars should be able to make a super amazing eyeliner and these are just not super amazing. However, I do love that eyeshadow look you have on your eyes Christine. I hope you post the entire look

Christine – I hope I don’t sound like a nag – but why no more tutorials?? Your tutorials are my favorites, and my first thought when I saw your eye makeup in this post was… I need to know how to do that! I know you’re busy, but I hope you can reconsider this at some point!

Whaaa?! I was wondering why you didn’t do tutorials anymore either (I’ve only been following your blog for about two months but noticed the tutorials date back to 2010) but I can’t believe no one wanted them. Disappointing! Oh well, if that’s what they voted then that’s understandable :]

Recently I have been thinking about why there are no more tutorials as well – can’t believe “readers voted no”!!! I don’t remember voting on anything like that? Not to mention I would LOVE to see more and more tutorials from you! Re-vote, Christine!

Noooooo! I don’t know why readers who vote that but I just discovered your site a month or so back and I just love your creativity!!! Could you do some of them sometimes for those of us who do love to learn from them?

Silly readers! I loved your tutorials 🙁 And this look is breathtaking. Would you please consider giving us at least a brief list of the products you used? I can tell you used outremer in the crease, but I can’t place the gray/green/gold shades 🙁

NARS smudgeproof is my FAVORITE primer considering i have a bit more oilier lids then the normal person. UDPP and TFSI crease like crazy but NARS sumdgeproof lasts ALL day for me … it’s worth the extra few bucks for me.

If I may suggest, if you won’t be doing tutorials anymore, would it be possible for you to always include what you are wearing on your eyes/lips if you post a picture of your face in a review or example? I know I have seen this in the past from you and I made sure I looked hard on this entry to make sure I hadn’t missed it. I realize this might be too much work for you to do, and if so, I’ll understand if it’s not possible. That being said, I’m sure everyone who loved your tutorials would appreciate it as it gives us some insight as to what colours we should pick up if we like your look.

Please bring back your tutorials! Oh please!! I learned sooooo much from you! If you say most of the readers voted no more tutorials, think about the few that can learn from you how to use their products and how to work incredible eye looks, just like you!

Christine, have you found any liner to last one your waterline longer than an hour or two? I haven’t yet. Only thing that comes close is Stila Smudgepots and even that’s just like, less faded away by the six-hour mark.

Oh yeah – I have the NC15/NW20 one as well and that one doesn’t stay super great either. I’ve concluded that this stuff just really depends on an individual’s skin/eyes and it’s never going to work the same for everyone! Which is a shame, because it just means I have to buy 8,093,234 eyeliners and test them all myself, but…well, that’s fun at least 🙂

Have you tried setting it with powder? I find that helps some of the eyeliners that come off my waterline too quickly. I’ve never had this issue with the MAC Chromographic Pencils or MAC Powerpoint eyeliner, but I have had it with the Sephora Nano eyeliners and that keeps them on for a good six hours for me. I haven’t tried powder with Fluidlines, but I only have coloured Fluidlines and I prefer to use only black, brown, or skintone on my waterline. (Though there is nothing that keeps MAC Eye Kohl on my waterline. Booo.)

I agree with Christine’s recommendation of MAC Chromagraphic pencils. I use Black Black on my waterline almost every day and the majority lasts most of the day – and i have really watery eyes. Lasts longer than Mac Fluidline and Stila Smudgepots.

Oh my gosh, Christine! That eye look at the bottom of the post — flawless. <3

I was hoping for Rue Bonaparte to be the answer for tired, red eyes, so it's too bad to hear that these don't last on the waterline! But, well, at least these sound better than NARS' other pencils 😛 (And the colours *are* still gorgeous, Rue Saint-Honore in particular! What a lovely blue-violet.)

Since I had seen the swatches already, I scrolled down after reading your review to comment, and I did not expect to see such a stunning eye look! It caught me by surprise, and it’s simply gorgeous! I don’t plan on getting any of these eyeliners though. I wish I was around when readers voted on you doing tutorials, I would have noted for them. 🙂

These are pretty, but I’m not blown away by them. Rue Saint-Honore is my favorite, but I’ll have to check to see if I have anything similar first. They eye look at the bottom is gorgeous! I wish you still did tutorials, also. 🙂

Christine, what shadows are you wearing in that pic? I love that look. Sorry, if you posted it somewhere in your review. I just glossed over it. I ordered 3 of the pencils last night and the new matte red lipstick. I’m relieved to see that these pencils are pretty good.

I understand that the readers’ opinions must be a very high priority for you, but at the end of the day, this is your blog, and you should be able to do whatever you want on it, Christine!

There are many of us who really love your tutorials. If it’s a lot of work, then I totally understand if you personally would like to stop doing them, but if it’s only the voting results keeping you from posting them, it would be a great shame. We love you, and would support you whatever you choose.

I would rather spend time doing what readers want than wasting time on things that readers do not want 🙂 I prefer to blog about what readers want to see and what is useful for them. So if readers don’t like them, there’s no need to spend time doing that when I could swatch and provide reviews, which is what majority of readers wanted to see. I do my best to please as many readers as possible, but I know I cannot please every single one!

Thank you for sharing your opinion! If the majority of readers want tutorials, I’m happy to do them again. 🙂

3 nice shades I would wear – but with less than 12 hr wear, I need more wear time from mine without having to wipe up under the eye, re-do that area totally an add in the cat eye line to the top. I might play with these next time I am at a Sephora if I remember. I am so happy with BB gel liner and UD 24/7 hard to get me to change.

I’m really sorry you aren’t doing tutorials any longer – I know I really enjoyed them. Anymore look books in your future? I bought (and loved AND recommended) your first. Thanks in advance for your response. Thank you again for all you do.

Not sure at the moment – so many things on the to-do list. I think it would ultimately depend on the level of interest – right now our biggest priority is building up the Swatch Gallery, which is proving quite arduous, lol!